


To Build a Home

by elenei



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Baby Fluff, F/M, Post canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-25
Updated: 2015-03-25
Packaged: 2018-03-18 22:24:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3586242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elenei/pseuds/elenei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gendry finds out Arya's been keeping a secret.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Build a Home

“Arya! I have work to do-”

Arya was all too aware of that. Gendry was always busy lately. _Too busy_ , Arya thought as she pressed her mouth against his. As Winterfell’s resident blacksmith he was responsible for a great deal of the repairs that were still going on throughout the castle. Not to mention all the general smithing that needed to be done too. Things had become even more hectic when Bran announced there was to be a festival in celebration of spring. It was of paramount importance the castle be restored to it’s former glory for all the company that was expected. Gendry spent the whole day working only to sneak into her room long after sundown; too tired for much of anything.  That was why Arya had shown decided to pounce while it was still early.

 “This won’t take long,” Arya insisted.

She lept up into his arms so he could carry her to the little room attached his forge. It was dusty and full of stale air. He hardly spent the night here anymore. He had when they first came to Winterfell; back when he had been hesitant to even step foot in the castle. Arya’s bedchamber had been even more forbidden to him. _This isn’t the road_ , he had objected. _We can’t be sharing a bed no more_ , he had said.

His resolve about staying away was no stronger than it had been in the south. Arya was glad for that. They slept better together by each other’s sides. Their relationship was an open secret around Winterfell. Gendry was convinced it was terribly inappropriate. But Arya knew better. No one cared who she lay with.

“You’re heavier,” he observed, between kisses, as he kicked the door closed behind him.

 “No I’m not! You stupid!”

She shoved him in the chest with both hands onto the cot and she shimmied out of her clothes, before diving down to kiss him hard. She straddled him and he fell onto his back. He yielded to the kiss and reflexively wrapped his arms around her.  One rubbed circles on her back while the other wandered over her stomach and toward her breast.

Gendry pulled away and stared at her. Not at her face but at her middle. There was no lust in his eyes, though. Not anymore. His face had that pained look it took whenever he was thinking. The rising sun was shining through the eastward facing window lighting up the room brightly. Arya thought maybe she had been imagining the roundness there. That was what she told herself while getting changed in the mornings and nights. One of her poor little maids had commented on it too. But Arya had sworn the girl to secrecy.

 “And your-,” he pointed accusingly at her bare breasts. They were swollen, she knew. They had been tender for weeks too. Arya scrambled off him and retreated to the end of the bed with her knees drawn against herself.  The room was quiet as they stared at each other.

It seemed forever before Gendry finally asked.

“…Are you pregnant?”

“No!…I don’t know…Maybe?” Arya sighed. She could lie to him with a straight face easily, but the rest of her body had given her up. There was no use denying it any longer, to Gendry or to herself. “Yes.”

Gendry looked like he was going to be sick. Arya resisted the urge to punch him.

“Oh don’t act so surprised. Did you think you could stick your cock in me thrice a day and nothing would happen?” He blushed furiously. They had been laying together for over a year and he still acted like an innocent maid half the time.

“I thought you were drinking that tea.” He waved his hand around vaguely. She almost felt bad then. Gendry had trusted her to take care of this.

And she had been. Mostly. It was a pain to remember to drink it day after day though. And at the same time the master recommended. Arya had never been a fan of routine. She had run out a few moons ago and failed to replace her supply. By the time she even realized it had been too late.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you! I just knew you’d be stupid about it.” Arya jumped off the bed and pulled her tunic back on. She had half a mind to storm out of his forge like that. _That would give them all something to talk about._

 “You’re the one being stupid. As usual you can’t see how this looks,” He shouted sitting up so his feet were touching the floor. “You’re practically a child still and me? I’m a wretch. I should’ve controlled myself but I couldn’t and now I’ve ruined you.”

Arya rolled her eyes. She had expected this too. “I haven’t been a child for a very long time. I’m five and ten. A woman grown.” She informed him. “That’s the same age my mother was when she married my father.”

“But we’re,” he gestured frantically between them with his hand. “Not married. And I’m no fit husband for you anyway.” He shook his head. “You don’t know what people are going to say. It’ll be a scandal. And with this festival coming up too; this castle will be filled with lords and ladies, and your like. What’s your brother, _the king_ , going to think about the seed of a bastard blacksmith quickening in his sisters belly?”

Arya knew Bran wouldn’t care. He had never expected Arya to marry like the rest of them. She suspected he already knew about it, possibly before Arya did herself. Bran seemed to know everything nowadays. It was those greendreams of his. But she didn’t feel like soothing any more of Gendry’s fears. _Let him think the worst_ , she thought spitefully.

 “Well, I guess I’ll just have to go live in the woods like a proper little pariah. It’d be preferably to sticking around here with you anyway.”

Gendry blinked and then swallowed hard. She could see his foolish reaction was beginning to dawn on him. He opened and closed his mouth several times. Arya just glared at his dumbfounded expression. And when he reached out, Arya tried to step away, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her close.

“I’m sorry.” Arya poked him hard in the middle of his chest. He apologized again for good measure.

“You should be.” He was quiet again and his face worried. Arya couldn’t help but run her free hand through his shaggy hair, pushing it out of his eyes.

“It’s just…I’m scared,” he admitted. He looked up at her with those icy blue eyes that warmed her heart.“…for _you_.”

Arya laughed.

“Gendry, we’ve survived white walkers and dragons and every sort of evil imaginable but a baby has you quaking in your boots.”

He smiled and pulled her back onto the bed. This time Arya didn’t resist. She buried her face into his neck and breathed deeply. They laid in silence for awhile after that. Gendry’s hand rested on her belly.

“A baby,” he repeated dazed. Arya lifted her head to look at him.

“What are you thinking?” His face got all screwed up again.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never thought about being a father before.” Gendry’s disdain for his own father had only intensified since discovering the truth of his birth. When Arya had met him again, after all those years apart, even she had seen it. She had been the one to finally tell him the truth too. Gendry hadn’t been all that surprised to learn the old king, a drunken sot and notorious bastard maker, was responsible for him.

 Gendry was staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

“I never thought I’d be a mother either,” she offered. As a girl, Arya had resisted the plans society had for her: a lord husband and a castle full of his children. She didn’t want to be trapped in some arranged marriage with a man she didn’t know, forced to act like a lady, and treated like a brood mare. But having Gendry’s baby didn’t feel like that.

“But you want this?” he asked. She placed her hand over his. Arya found herself thinking of her own father then. And her mother and the brothers she had lost. _The lone wolf dies but the pack survives._ There was so few of them left now. Only Arya and Bran remained in Winterfell. Sansa was in the south and Rickon being fostered leagues away. But Arya didn’t want to look towards the past anymore. It was time to start thinking of the future.

“Yes,” she answered simply.

“Then so do I.” He leaned forward to kiss her. “I’ve followed you into far more dangerous situation than this after all.” They smiled at each other before he broke eye contact to lean over her. Gendry pushed her tunic up gently and his beard tickled Arya as he kissed above her belly button.  The terrible weight she had been carrying around for weeks was gone. It had been replaced with excitement. It felt like the beginning of a new adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I have a couple of ideas for some related one-shots that take place after this. Because the issue is far from resolved.


End file.
